# Drawing gets better with age?



## Momoharu (Jul 23, 2009)

Y'know, I've been musing this for a few years, do you think that you get better at drawing over time, just as a given, without art classes or anything, but just by drawing at the same rate you already do?

Discuss.


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## voltianqueen (Jul 23, 2009)

Well, I have. I never liked doing art class at school, cos it bothers me when someone tries to tell me "how" to draw stuff. I'd rather just do it myself, and so I do.


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## Crazy Linoone (Jul 23, 2009)

Well, it's not exactly age that matters. The time you spent drawing and observing things really make your art better. I know, for instance, that I pick up styles from whatever I see -- I used to draw birds with huge, glittery anime eyes and awkwardly shaped wings that don't bend in the right places and are too small for flight. I continuously try to improve my drawings, and I tend to copy pictures from books or other media because they look good. Now my birds look much more functional and realistic because I learned how to draw them better. 

The point I'm trying to make is that, yes, your art does improve with time. However, it's not because time has passed, it's because you have had time to improve. If I never looked at different ways of drawing birds, I would still be drawing those awkwardly shaped birds I used to draw.


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## brandman (Jul 23, 2009)

Yes. Definitely. Well lemme tell you a'little story:

Back when I was four everyone said I was "gifted" at drawing. And I'll say I am pretty good but the fact my dad's a jeweler might have something to do with it. Well, like I said, when I was four I had to go to work with my dad and my mom. Well, there's not much to do at my dads work. So I picked up a crayon and drew! Hallelu- *broken record sound* No, as amazing as it seems, I did not just start drawing. My parents got those coloring books and i drew in them but anyways I took one of my dad's papers and drew on the back of it. He would've been made but I made an image of it (batman and robin). He then bought me paper and I drew at my dad's work. I found a rugrats bok and started to draw them. And suppossevly it was really good. Well later on my parents divorced and my mom had two more kids with some stupid guy. Well, last month I saw my four year old brother and see his drawing: 

	
	
		
		
	


	




 Now my drawing is sophisticated and I draw unique details on everything. Then I remember when I was four and my drawing was better: 

	
	
		
		
	


	








] Well he was from a different parent who is currently in jail but he doesn't know.

So my point is your skills grow as you grow, but others get more advanced in it, sometimes to different levels. It probably has something to do with heritage. But not always.


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## spaekle (Jul 23, 2009)

Linoone pretty much has it - it'll only improve over time if you put effort into it. Drawing is a skill that you need to develop, like learning to read or drive; the only difference is that it's not one that's particularly necessary to get by in life, so most people end up not putting effort into developing their artistic skills. 

There's a pretty _enormous_ difference in the artistic skill levels of a 30-year-old professional artist who went through art school and spent an unbelievable amount of time learning how to visualize things artistically and how to draw things exactly as they appear, and another 30-year-old who took an art class in high school because he had to and generally dislikes drawing or doesn't care one way or the other. There'd be a lot more amazing artists in the world if age was the sole factor in determining your artistic ability.


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## Slartibartfast (Jul 23, 2009)

Age isn't the sole factor, obviously. But look at a typical drawing from a four-year-old, to a ten-year-old, to an adult, or any other divisions of time, and obviously there is going to be some improvement. People learn better ways to draw even without instruction and practice. Age (and general life experience) is a pretty big factor in drawing ability. That being said, art classes and innate ability obviously will help you as much or more, but age does help.


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## Mad MOAI (Jul 23, 2009)

...Hm. I think so. I used to draw Pokemon terribly and shade OK and now everyone says I'm good at shading. Plus I developed a style for Absol I think is really cool over the time I've been in the Rack Shackle Pack.


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## Loco Mocho (Jul 24, 2009)

Art class give techniques
but skill comes from pratice

I could draw A spongebob that looked real when I was 10 
then i stopped drawing till i was thirteen so of course my drawings werent as good 
in the end PRATICE is whats good


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## Notoriously Unknown (Jul 24, 2009)

..........
Well I'm elevan and eh...
That and I've only become seriouse obout my art for three years.  I used to draw stick figures and be perfectly content with them, but now stick figures just don't cut it. I'm constantly changing styles and trying out new things so that could contribute to my skill. That and I'm guilty of taking carefuly studied tips from some pros. Like when I first started drawing wings they looked like poofy clouds. Now they actualy look like wings.
I draw everday as well. If I'm bored or have some free time I grab some paper and whatever drawing utensil is avalible. In this respect it's pretty obviouse that time plays a big role in art, but not how old you are. It's all about the work, practice, effort, and experimentaion that you put into it plus how often you sharpen your skills.


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## Coloursfall (Jul 24, 2009)

I agree with Linoone here; check this out:

Three years ago
Yesterday

Between those, are 306 pictures (and those are only the ones I've put of dA. I draw every day.

So practice, people!


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## Tigerclaw (Jul 24, 2009)

I've gotten better at drawing over the years. So yes, it does.


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## Tsukido (Jul 24, 2009)

Everything but your looks get better with age, pretty much. It's odd, but true. I've never taken anything beyond a basic high school art class, but regardless of that my drawing skills get better and better as time goes by. Practice is extremely important - I can always see lack of practice on my drawings. Skill is acquired through true dedication. Every day that you draw, you improve, every day you don't, you take a step back. And no matter what, if you're anything like me,m you're never satisfied with yourself, so the practice continues, on, and on, and on....

So yes...with age comes wisdom and better hand-eye coordination, but it takes practice to really see improvement in your skills.


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## Aisling (Jul 24, 2009)

I say drawing mostly improves with age because it takes time to practice and observe, and it just so happens to take time to age, too. With enough practice and observation, anyone can be skilled at drawing.
I am certainly not the best artist but I've put a lot of thought in what I think it takes to be a good artist. You have to observe real life, and then figure out and practice your method of applying your mental image to a physical medium. I suppose as you age, your attention span grows so that helps a little bit with this (there's also that hand-eye coordination thing, but drawing itself can improve this too, I think). I also think there's a degree of "natural talent", which is really probably just possessing certain personality traits or temperaments, because some people do seem to progress faster than others, but I don't think it's impossible for the average person to become great if they give it their all. Unless you're positively retarded like CWC or something


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## Jolty (Jul 24, 2009)

If you keep drawing, yes you do get better with age. If you don't keep drawing, how are you suppossed to improve??


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## spaekle (Jul 24, 2009)

Here's a gallery of before-and-afters of people who attended a five-day seminar based off the Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain theory. In this case it wasn't getting better over time, but because they had actually been taught how to observe. 

You could read the same book over and over for years, and yeah, you might become really awesome at reading that book, but you're not really improving your reading ability as a whole. You improve your reading ability by reading all different kinds of books and graduating to ones with more advanced vocabularies. It's the same way with drawing. 



> Unless you're positively retarded like CWC or something


I thought about using him as an example, but I figured no one would get it. xD


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## Worst Username Ever (Jul 24, 2009)

Sort of. I draw MUCH better now than I did just one-two-ish years ago, however-this is because I have an interest in drawing, and actually started caring about anatomy and head-body-ratios and stuff like that. However, I believe drawing a lot also played a part here. Now my characters look much better(mind you, *characters*, I'm not that good at stuff like... say furniture, because I hardly ever draw it, and for perspective... I believe I'm decent at it but hardly ever use it...).


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## Alxprit (Jul 24, 2009)

I think I can attribute to this. The only thing I do to improve when I draw is do it a lot, and eventually I end up becoming slightly better. People ask me if I take art classes, and are moderately surprised when I say I don't.


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## SQRL (Jul 24, 2009)

Not really, the only way that drawing skill increases with age is that your hands might get steadier as compared to when you are younger. It's subtle. The only way age should be a factor is that time = more practice.

What really increases drawing skill, is ~drawing~ as everyone else is saying. But, more important than that is that you have to practice _outside_ of your comfort zone, and try new things out. You can draw some anime headshot from the same angle 413 times, and while you might get better faster stronger at drawing such headshots, you're going to be failing in other areas you haven't practiced. It's why lots of amateur artists are ONLY good at drawing animals or ONLY good at drawing people, and why most people aren't so great at the scenic background things.

And anatomy is /IMPORTANT/. If you never take the time to practice anatomy, then the only thing you're going to get good at drawing are disfigured not-so-good things. Even if you draw cartoony it's better to know realistic proportions so you can accurately simplify or playfully exaggerate. 

Personally, I don't think art classes help much. I've never really been in one except for maybe a year or two, and I'd only imagine it helps thanks to critique and forcing you to practice realism.

SO YEAH tl;dr, PRACTICE. Poses, anatomy, expressions, realism, styles, shading, etc. If you're sketching and re-sketching and fixing and re-fixing again and again then you're doing it right.


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## Momoharu (Jul 25, 2009)

Alright, I'll add a little bit of discussion material to this.

Do you think it's possible to learn technique's like shading and perspective when your younger, without being taught?


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## Aisling (Jul 25, 2009)

Possibly. If a kid is smart enough to notice those things in real life on his own, he can probably figure out how to put it on paper.


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## SQRL (Jul 25, 2009)

Er, why not?


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## Dewgong (Jul 25, 2009)

eh probably.

i always kinda thought that art just improves over time, not necessarily age. a fifty year old could draw worse than me, but they're older than me. it just improves over time, although age could be a factor if you had been drawing from a young age.

idk.


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## Karkat Vantas (Jul 31, 2009)

I guess so. I was able to pick up shading when I as about 7 (although the drawings still looked terrible).

I've seen people who could draw well, but it's only because they like to draw. Most good artists got that way by practicing.


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## Frosty~ (Jul 31, 2009)

It's a mixture of both, I believe. As you get older, your observation skills improve and you get a better sense of perspective. But on the other hand, simply aging isn't going to improve you a whole lot. You need to practice practice practice to get any good. For a long time. 
I've only been drawing as a hobby for close to a year now, but I still struggle with many things


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## Murkrow (Jul 31, 2009)

I think it's mostly practice, it's just someone older would have more time to practice. I have been absolutely awful at art for the bast sixteen years. I've been practising for the past few weeks and I can tell I'm improving. I might not be good, but I'm better. So I'd say practise is more important than age.
Not to say that age doesn't have an effect- a two year old that draws a lot probably wouldn't draw something as good as an adult who doesn't draw as much.


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## Phyro Phantom (Jul 31, 2009)

Like some people have said, drawing skill doesn't really improve over time unless that time is spent practicing, and evolving your art style.  I hardly improved my drawing skills at all from age 1 to 10.  Once I started actually drawing though, I have improved tremendously.  I started when I was about ten, and I have gradually gotten better...  However, I still believe it takes practice.  I've gotten lots of art blocks and laziness periods, and I never get through them until I force myself to draw, because until I do, I will never improve.

The only way age is really a factor is that older people tend to be more mature and responsible, and thus are more willing to commit to drawing.  Additionally, adults generally have more hand-eye coordination and motor control than children.  Still, persistence and practice are much more important contributors to drawing skill than age.


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## Linzys (Aug 2, 2009)

You have to learn as you draw. So I suppose that if you just keep drawing you may notice new things here and there and eventually get better and better, but classes accelerate this like crazy.


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## SonicNintendo (Aug 2, 2009)

Not necessaril does it come with age.  I suppose you get a better sense of detail, but age affecting drawing? No, not really.


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## xkze (Aug 2, 2009)

yes, if you start drawing and then keep drawing. 
no, if you try to draw once in first grade and then expect to be amazing when you pick up a pencil again in college. 

Drawing gets better the more you draw.


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## KlutzyKaytix33 (Aug 3, 2009)

Sorta, sorta not.
I mean, there's a huge difference between your artwork as a 5 year old to your artwork as a teenager, but you need practice to really get good.


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## Saith (Aug 4, 2009)

Not necessarilly. It's the time taken to practise and hone your skill rather than just your age. Although, as my art techer said, the reason most kids are so crap is because their parents compliment their stick figures.

But I wish it was just age.


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## fresh fruit for Adol (Aug 4, 2009)

That's one of the oddest things I've ever heard...  Getting better at drawing with age?  I've been drawing for a very long time, and I only got better through massive amounts of practice.  Granted it's just a hobby for me, and I could probably do better myself if I drew more, it's more practice than anything else.  

Some people also just happen to have a sort of...  "affinity" for drawing, but that's kind of rare...  Even then, those people won't be able to do much without practice.


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## Blaziking the God General (Aug 4, 2009)

For me, yes indeed. Granted, my drawing abilities are still terrible, but not as terrible as they were once upon a time. Back when I was about five years old, my people had a face, and then legs. There was no torso at all, not even a line like in a stick figure. Now my drawn people actually look somewhat like people.


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